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The Associated Press
The materials in the AP file were compiled by The Associated Press. These
materials may not be republished without the express written consent of The
Associated Press.
November 6, 1983, Sunday, AM cycle
FULL
SECTION: Washington Dateline
LENGTH: 1112 words
HEADLINE: Study Cites Soviet Progress on Mind Weapons
BYLINE: By BARTON REPPERT, Associated Press Writer
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
BODY :
The Soviet Union has achieved "significant progress" toward developing
mind-control weapons, according to a U. S. Army study disclosed in ...
... Martin Ebon contends that mind-altering effects or "remote monitoring of
brain wave activity" are among possible reasons behind the Soviet microwave
bombardment of the U. S. Embassy in Moscow.
"Soviet scientists view the brain as an apparatus available for probing and
manipulation, " Ebon says. "They are well aware that perfected techniques ...
Publication of Ebon's book, "Psychic Warfare: Threat or Illusion?" comes amid
increased interest in parapsychology research on Capitol Hill as well as within
the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies.
A report prepared recently by the ...
... persuasion, mischief and disinformation," it said.
Psi phenomena include various forms of extrasensory perception, for example
telepathy and "remote viewing" of distant locations. Another form is
"psychokinesis, " the ability to move or bend solid objects with the mind.
Critics of parapsychology, however, charge that much of the research on those
effects is either scientifically unsound or fraudulent. Other skeptics argue
that even if the phenomena exist, they are too .
. include Sen. Claiborne Pell, D-R. I., ranking Democrat on the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee. He said he had discussed the parapsychology field
with Soviet researchers during a visit to the Soviet Union in August.
"I personally have never experienced or seen a psychic event, " Pell said in a
recent
.
completed by Warsaw Pact countries during the past decade in the area of
psychic phenomena, of which psychotronics is one element."
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ted Press.
November 6, 1983
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"The Soviet Union, in particular, appears to have made significant progress
toward developing psychotronic weapons, " said the Army study, entitled "Fire ...
1970s, when the agency was under intense criticism and scrutiny on
..
Capitol Hill.
But a U.S. government official familiar with the parapsychology field, who
spoke on the condition that he not be identified, said that currently "there
seems to be somewhat renewed interest at the CIA . ..
Yuri V. Andropov and other Kremlin officials during their Aug. 17-21
visit to Moscow.
In his private discussions with Soviet parapsychologists, Pell said he had
been unable to get a "firm handle" on the overall scope of scientific resources
Moscow is devoting to this
short a time to go into anything in any depth, " he said.
The senator said he has been particularly impressed by psychokinesis and
remote-viewing research being conducted by Robert G. Jahn, dean of the School of
Engineering-Applied Science at Princeton University.
batches of 9,000 plastic spheres tumbling through a "random mechanical
cascade. "
The Congressional Research Service report said Soviet annual spending on psi
research has been "speculated to amount to tens of millions of dollars."
By contrast, total funding for parapsychology studies in the United States
"probably does not greatly exceed $500, 000" a year currently, with most of the
money coming from ...
..
. criticized by Paul Kurtz, chairman of the Committee for the Scientific
Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, a group which is skeptical about
parapsychology .
"In no sense is this an adequate account of the status of research, because
the whole parapsychological area is rife with controversy, " said Kurtz, ...
results in other laboratories
it's very elusive. "
Ebon, a New York-based professional writer specializing in Soviet affairs,
asserted in his book that there was already considerable "circumstantial
evidence" pointing to the Soviet KGB's "unorthodox use of electronic means" in
an effort to influence human behavior.
Speculation over possible purposes behind the Soviet microwave bombardment of
the Moscow embassy believed to have begun as early as 1953 has centered
largely on use of the beams for eavesdropping or to try to jam U. S. electronic
intelligence-gathering equipment.
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1983
However, Ebon said that "another hypothesis is Soviet use of radiation to
effect mind-changes in embassy personnel."
An additional possibility, he wrote, is that the beams may have been "used to
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